Physical, brutal, tense …this was English rugby at its brilliant best
Roebuck and Reed tries take Sale to their first Premiership final in 17 years
Sale’s employees wore shirts with ‘northern rugby matters’ emblazoned on the front at this Premiership semi-final and the sharks showed just how much playing for the Manchester-based club means to them by moving to within one game of their first title since 2006.
alex sanderson’s side will face saracens at Twickenham a week on saturday with english rugby’s showpiece trophy on the line. saracens will be favourites, but sale won’t give them an easy ride. Northern rugby really does matter to everyone at sale and that was in evidence here as the home side — backed by a fervent crowd — edged out defending champions leicester.
It was a big afternoon for sale. They delivered.
Director of rugby sanderson and his team were cheered into the aJ Bell stadium. There were kisses for sanderson from his loved ones. The sharks are likeable off the pitch but on it, they have a nasty bite — one which eventually stopped leicester’s title defence in its tracks.
It was tight and it was tense but sale did just enough, outscoring the Tigers by two tries to one thanks to Tom Roebuck and arron Reed.
sale were bossed around the field by the magnificent George Ford, who won the Premiership with leicester last season and was at his controlling best here.
For leicester, a season of chaos which saw them lose steve Borthwick and Kevin sinfield to england ended in the last four. The Tigers confirmed a key change to their side on the eve of kick- off with south africa’s World Cupwinning fly-half Handre Pollard ruled out with a calf problem.
Jimmy Gopperth, 39, came in at the 11th hour.
It was a frantic start in front of a capacity crowd. english rugby has had a tough season, but this was a splendid spectacle which showed the game’s top division does have plenty to offer when at its best.
The atmosphere was febrile. sale’s supporters were in raucous mood for their first home semi-final in 17 years, but referee Wayne Barnes was the subject of their early ire.
Barnes penalised sale on three occasions, allowing Gopperth to kick two penalties.
The simmering temperature of the game soon overheated.
Tom Curry smashed into Hanro liebenberg, whose leicester team-mate Cameron Henderson came steaming into the confrontation, giving sale a penalty.
It wasn’t long before the sale flags placed on every home seat were waving, Roebuck diving into the corner for the opening score. Ford nailed the touchline conversion.
This was knockout rugby, every moment a big event in itself. Ben Curry won sale a penalty at the breakdown, but the sharks captain suffered a seemingly serious
hamstring injury in doing so. He was taken from the field on a stretcher after his leg buckled under pressure from leicester players trying to clear him away from the contact area.
england head coach Borthwick watched on from the stands, understandably concerned about a player who has had an excellent season ahead of the World Cup later this year.
sale’s forwards stepped up their game just before the break, but after superb leicester defence on their own line withheld the blue barrage, Barnes consulted television pictures and sent Dan Cole to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on akker van der Merwe.
Barnes also checked for a similar offence from Ben Youngs as Robert du Preez looked to score.
Youngs escaped a card and although he was forced off for a head injury assessment, he crucially stopped the try.
Youngs didn’t return for the start of the second half, and soon the pressure started to show for both teams. Tom Curry stole the ball at the breakdown as Youngs’ replacement Jack van Poortvliet dawdled.
leicester finally built some pressure in the sale 22 before Dan Kelly’s beautiful pass found Harry Potter, who finished excellently.
Gopperth’s touchline kick was judged to perfection, but leicester immediately gave up their lead as they conceded a penalty from the restart. Ford didn’t miss and the scores were tied.
On the sidelines, a man seated in a deck chair tried to liven up the home support after leicester’s Freddie steward dropped a rare ball. His opposite number — the excellent sale full back Joe Carpenter — struggled with cramp but ploughed on regardless. It summed up sale’s dogged resilience. soon, the hosts had lift-off.
steward’s mistake was crucial. Jonny Hill won sale possession from the set-piece and then the ball went wide. Ford’s pass looked awful at first glance as it hit the grass, but the ball bounced up and Reed’s pick-up was sensational as he skated over the line.
a third sale try was rightly ruled out for a forward pass from Reed to Raffi Quirke but a monster penalty from Ford made it 21-13 and sealed the win.
On the sidelines, Manu Tuilagi looked to the sky and said a prayer in the hope that his team would hold on but the sharks didn’t need divine intervention to reach the final.
They deserve to be there — although injuries to Ben Curry and Dan du Preez are a concern with saracens in mind.
SALE: Carpenter, Roebuck, R du Preez, Tuilagi (S James 54min), Reed, G Ford, Warr (Quirke 50), McIntyre (Rodd 46), Van der Merwe (Ashman 55), Schonert (Oosthuizen 46), J-L du Preez, J Hill, T Curry, B Curry
(D du Preez 29; Beaumont 71), Ross. LEICESTER: Steward, Watson, Scott (Porter 66), Kelly, Potter, Gopperth (Atkinson 69), B Youngs (Van Poortvliet 36), West (Cronin 52), Montoya, Cole (Heyes 57), Martin, Henderson (Wells 69), Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese. Sin bin: Cole 35.
Referee: Wayne Barnes.
Attendance: 12,000.